Dr. Sudoku Prescribes #147 – Star Battle
or solve online (using our beta test of Penpa-Edit tools)
Theme: “The Star Battle for Christmas”
Rules: Standard Star Battle rules. Two stars per row, column, and region. Note: the shading is just to emphasize the theme and is not involved in the solve.
Answer String: For each row from top to bottom, enter the number of the first column from the left where a star appears. Enter these numbers as a single string with no separators.
Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 2:15, Master = 5:15, Expert = 10:30
Solution: PDF
Note: Follow this link for other classic Star Battles and this link for Star Battle variations. If you are new to this puzzle type, here are our easiest Star Battles to get started on. More Star Battle puzzles can be found in The Art of Puzzles, in the book Star Battle by JinHoo Ahn, and in our beginner-friendly collection Intro to GMPuzzles by Serkan Yürekli.
Thanks to my questionable reading comprehension skills, I can confirm that this is a pretty hard LITS puzzle.
Is there a unique answer, though?
there is a solution, but its definitely not unique
And suddenly puzzle writers are trying to construct a star battle that also works as a LITS
Star Battle and LITS is not the only combination of types you can do this with 😉
It’s indeed interesting to try to solve this puzzle as LITS, but it’s a shame this one doesn’t have an unique LITS-answer
On a non-LITS note, the two highlights of this puzzle were the break in and the way the bottom-left corner got resolved I don’t think I’ve seen that in the Star Battles I’ve solved, which are admittedly not a lot. Still, pretty nice.